The present invention relates to an outside handle adapted to be used with a sliding door for opening/closing an opening formed in an automobile body.
An outside handle of the prior art for a sliding door attached to a side of an automobile body includes a handle portion, a base portion, a bell crank portion and a sub-link portion (or an output lever portion), and is jointed to a door lock mechanism by an open rod (or a lock side link) attached to the bell crank portion.
If the conventional outside handle of the sliding door is constructed such that the handle portion is pulled outward of the vehicle, the center of rotation of the bell crank portion has to be arranged on the outer side of the door glass, because of a frame of the door glass. Thus, there is a problem that the sliding door has a large thickness. In order to solve this problem, there has been conceived a structure in which a functional portion such as the bell crank portion is small-sized. However, this structure has failed to make a sufficient improvement in the stroke efficiency at the beginning of the operation of the handle portion.
In the case of a structure in which the handle portion is pulled outward of the vehicle, a balance weight is attached to the bell crank portion so as to return the handle portion to the original position. This balance weight is arranged on a bracket at a more outer side than the door glass of the sliding door.
The outside handle is a structural member for pulling the handle portion outward of the vehicle and is desired to ensure the unlocking action reliably with a lighter force to pull the handle portion outward of the vehicle so as to improve the operability of the handle portion.
In the structure in which the handle portion is pulled outward of the vehicle, there arises a problem that the sliding door is necessarily thickened if the pin at the L-shaped bent portion of the bell crank portion is arranged at a more outer side than the door glass.
Even if the bell crank portion is positioned as closer as possible to the door glass thereby to thin the sliding door, therefore, there is a problem that the vertical motions of the door glass are deteriorated if the bell crank portion is excessively close to the door glass.
In order to light the force to operate the outside handle, i.e., the handle portion of the outside handle outward of the vehicle, on the other hand, the length of the handle portion has to be made larger in the direction of the base portion than the pin of the handle portion. If the handle portion of the outside handle is elongated, however, the distance from the glass end to the door end is enlarged from the positional relation to the door glass guide frame so that the glass is relatively narrowed to change the appearance of the automobile drastically.
If the length from the pin of the bell crank portion to the sub-link portion is enlarged to elongate the handle portion, on the other hand, the pulling allowance of the handle portion is enlarged transversely of the vehicle to deteriorate the operability. It has therefore been desired to improve the operability of the handle portion without changing the length of the same.
If the balance weight is arranged as in the prior art at a more outer side of the vehicle than the door glass of the sliding door, moreover, there is a problem that the thickness of the door is enlarged.
In the structure in which the handle portion is pulled outward of the vehicle, there is a problem that a force to return the handle portion inward of the vehicle even if the force to pull it is weakened. In an outside handle of a four-link type, on the other hand, there is a problem that the operation load grows higher as the handle portion is operated.